Can a landlord demand payslips, bank statements and my ID?

Data minimisation (Art. 5(1)(c)) maps cleanly onto the rental funnel. Viewing stage: name and contact details. Not your ID, not payslips, not a bank statement, not your employer’s phone number — several DPAs have publicly rebuked rental platforms and agents for hoovering documents from every applicant “to speed things up”. You may push back with exactly that: “I will provide income evidence if selected.” Selection stage (you are the intended tenant): proportionate income verification becomes defensible — recent payslips or an employer statement; a bank statement with transactions redacted (balance/salary line visible) beats handing over your spending history. Passport copies live by the same playbook as everywhere else: inspection first, and if a copy is genuinely required, redact and watermark it — see copies of your ID. After rejection: your file must be deleted, not parked for “future opportunities” without your consent — an erasure request to the agency is one email. After move-in: the landlord keeps what the tenancy needs (contract, deposit records, meter readings), not the courtship file. Discrimination smell test: questions about nationality beyond right-to-rent checks, family planning, health — refuse and note them; those are equality-law problems stacked on privacy ones. Agencies that stonewall deletion or access are routine DPA complaints — housing pressure does not suspend the GDPR.